Search results for "Confounding"
showing 10 items of 385 documents
Physical activity and dementia : Long-term follow-up study of adult twins
2015
Introduction. Physical activity is associated with a decreased occurrence of dementia. In twins, we investigated the effect of persistent physical activity in adulthood on mortality due to dementia. Materials and methods. Physical activity was queried in 1975 and 1981 from the members of the older Finnish Twin Cohort (n = 2 1,791), who were aged 24-60 years at the end of 1981. The subjects were divided into three categories according to the persistence of their vigorous physical activity. Dementia deaths were followed up to the end of 2011. Results. During the 29-year follow-up, 353 subjects died of dementia. In individual-based analyses the age-and sex-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 0.65 (…
Vitamin D deficiency predicts cognitive decline in older men and women: The Pro.V.A. Study
2014
Objective: To test the hypothesis that hypovitaminosis D is associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline over a 4.4-year follow-up in a large sample of older adults. Methods: This research was part of the Progetto Veneto Anziani (Pro.V.A.), an Italian populationbased cohort study of 1,927 elderly subjects. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels were measured at the baseline. Global cognitive function was measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); scores lower than 24 were indicative of cognitive dysfunction, and a decline of 3 or more points on the MMSE over the follow-up was considered as clinically significant. Analyses were adjusted for relevant confounders, includin…
Identification of Older People at Risk of ADL Disability Using the Life-Space Assessment : A Longitudinal Cohort Study
2016
Abstract Objectives Life-space mobility, assessed with the Life-Space Assessment (LSA), reflects an individual's mobility in terms of the spatial area, frequency, and need for assistance. The aims were to study associations between life-space mobility and disability status in activities of daily living (ADL), and to define cutoff scores for baseline LSA and LSA change over time identifying individuals who developed ADL inability during 2 years of follow-up. Robustness of the cutoff scores was tested accounting for potential confounders. Design Longitudinal analyses of the “Life-space mobility in old age” cohort study. Setting Home-based interviews at baseline and phone interviews 2 years la…
Oxidative stress is related to frailty, not to age or sex, in a geriatric population: lipid and protein oxidation as biomarkers of frailty.
2014
Objectives: To ascertain whether indicators of oxidative damage to lipids (malondialdehyde (MDA)) and proteins (protein carbonylation) are biomarkers of frailty, after adjusting for age, sex, and other possible confounders. Design: Cross-sectional cohort study. Setting: Community. Participants: Toledo Study for Healthy Aging participants (N = 742, aged 65–95), classified as frail (n = 54), prefrail (n = 278) and nonfrail (n = 410) according to the Fried criteria. Measurements: Blood plasma was obtained using centrifugation (1,500 G, 15 minutes) and immediately frozen at −80°C. Plasma lipid peroxidation was determined by measuring the MDA formed from lipoperoxides using high-performance liqu…
Associations between the Severity of Sarcopenia and Health-Related Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Middle-Aged and Older Adults
2021
(1) Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the associations between severity of sarcopenia and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 304 older-adult participants was used to assess the severity of sarcopenia by measuring muscle strength (handgrip dynamometer), muscle mass (bioelectrical impedance analysis), and physical performance (Timed Up-and-Go test). The generic 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to evaluate HRQoL. Anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) as well as age were considered as possible confounders. Probable sarcopenia was dete…
Oxidative stress is related to frailty, not to age or sex, in a geriatric population
2017
Age-associated frailty is a geriatric syndrome. Frail individuals are vulnerable and lack capacity to manage external stressors. Frailty is associated with oxidative stress, but it has not been addressed in a large controlled human cohort. We aimed to ascertain whether indicators of oxidative damage to lipids and proteins are biomarkers of frailty, after adjusting for age, sex, and other possible confounders. We measured lipid and protein oxidation in the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging participants (N=742, aged 65–95), classified as frail, prefrail and nonfrail according to the Fried criteria. We found that age- and sex-adjusted levels of MDA and protein carbonylation in plasma proved to be…
The impact of solvent mixtures on neurobehavioral performance: conclusions from epidemiological data.
2007
Abstract The review of epidemiological studies investigating the neurobehavioral effects of occupational exposure to solvent mixtures sought to contribute to the following issues: (1) Identification of affected cognitive and motor functions. (2) Identification of sensitive neuropsychological tests. (3) Analysis of exposure–effect relationships. The approach was based on the meta-analytical method of effect size estimates. Fifty-three groups from occupational studies were included in the meta-analysis. Forty-eight neuropsychological performance variables could be analyzed as they were included in at least three studies. Seventeen articles provided detailed information on the constituents of …
Depression and disease severity as correlates of everyday physical activity in heart transplant candidates
2010
Summary It is unclear to what extent patients awaiting heart transplantation (HTx) engage in physical activities. We examined the everyday physical activity and its associations with depressive symptoms and disease severity in 318 patients newly registered for HTx in the multi-site study ‘Waiting for a New Heart’ (aged 53.5 ± 11.4 years, 18% female patients). Participants completed questionnaires assessing depressive symptomatology and physical activity (number of physical activities, caloric expenditure associated with each activity), and estimated the distance they were able to walk without a break. Medical parameters at the time of listing [e.g. peak oxygen consumption (peakVO2); the Ger…
Methodological Issues in the Baffling Relationship Between Hepatitis C Virus and Non Hodgkin’s Lymphomas
2003
The association between Hepatitis C Virus infection and B-cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma has been the matter of several studies: they showed disagreeing results with a marked regional variability. In this paper we present a review of the literature, highlighting methodological issues and main statistically critical aspects. Review suggests that studies were often not methodologically well approached. Moreover, we present main results from an original case-control study conducted in Italy, in an area of high endemicity of Hepatitis C Virus infection. In particular, we put attention in selection of a properly matching control group and in the role of age as a confounding variable.
Are attachment dimensions associated with infertility-related stress in couples undergoing their first IVF treatment? A study on the individual and c…
2012
study question: Are attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions in female and male partners in couples seeking infertility treat- ment associated with her and his infertility-related stress? summary answer: Attachment dimensions are significantly associated with several aspects of infertility stress in couples undergoing IVF treatment. what is known and what this paper adds: Attachment dimensions of anxiety and avoidance (where highly anxious individuals fear rejection and are preoccupied with maintaining proximity to their partner and highly avoidant individuals are uncomfortable with intimacy and prefer to maintain distance from their partner) may influence the well being of individuals u…